AMA Pro Flat Track News & Updates Heading Into the Season-Opening Rounds at Daytona on March 14-15

Former 2008 AMA Pro Flat Track Rookie of the Year Matt Weidman spilled the beans on Facebook earlier this week that he would be campaigning the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track J&P Cycles Grand National Championship Twins Series events on the Scott Powersports Kawasaki again, after having campaigned the 650R-based mounts throughout the second half of the 2012 season.

Weidman, who took over the seat on the Scott Powersports team midway through the 2012 year after initial rider Johnny Lewis left the team after round 6 of the season at the Hagerstown Speedway, is listed as an early entry for rounds 1-2 at the Daytona Short Track next week on his DFW Honda/SNIP-sponsored Honda, and is expected to resume his spot in the Scott Powersports saddle at round 3 that is still a TBA on the schedule on May 4 (although I have heard this round may not happen.  Should that be the case, Mighty Matt's first time riding the Scott Kawi this year should happen on May 11 at the Stockton Mile.)

In the shot above from round 13 of the 2012 season at the Springfield Mile II, Matt stands in line during rider intros, along with the help of his Mom, Rachel and Dad, Guy, who were on-hand to help him out at the Illiniois State Fairgrounds rain-delayed event.  Team owner and stalwart, Mike Scott, was not able to be at the track due to scheduling problems, so Matt's parents gladly came out of 'retirement' to help the New York resident out on the day with set-up on the #20 Scott Powersports/Saddlemen/Fiorio Investments/SNIP-sponsored Kawi.  It was great seeing them back at the track helping him out as they always bring a big lending hand and another pair of big smiles to Matt's efforts.  Matt also did a nice job of rocking former National #20's leathers, Johnny 'Show Time' Murphree, but is slated to wear a nice new set for the upcoming year.  Check it out below.

You can check out a picture of Matt in his new Scott Powersports leathers here from Matt's Facebook page, and we wish the hard charger and Daytona 2012 round 2-winner the best of luck, again, for the upcoming season!

Briar Bauman, the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Saddlemen Rookie of the Year, will be making a big change to his 2013 campaign in the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track J&P Cycles Grand National Championship season as he will be riding for one of the long-time tuners and supporters of the series this year.

After riding for the USC Racing/Hart Racing and Rod Lake Racing teams in his rookie campaign in the 2012 season, Bauman has been slated to ride for the Memphis Shades Yamaha team, helmed by none other then former factory Yamaha and Harley-Davidson tuner and wrench to the stars, Babe DeMay, with factory backing from the Yamaha Motor Company.  Bauman will be tasked with riding the new Yamaha Tenere, which will make it's debut this season in the Twins Series events.

The California resident will also be switching numbers for his 2013 season, and bolting on the #14 plate to his machines, following in the footsteps of Jake Johnson (who wore the #14 up until the 2010 season when he switched to the #5) and Hank Scott, who in this old timer's eyes made that number pretty darn famous from the '74 season until his retirement at the end of the '88 season.

In this shot from round 12 of the 2012 season, Bauman puts the #10Z Rod Lake Racing/Browns Cycle/Arai/Gene & Gail Cummings-backed Honda CRF450R through it's paces during the final practice session of the final Springfield Short Track on September 15.

Thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track for this link to the official press release about Double-B #14 hooking up with one of the long-time supporters and campaigners of the series, the legendary Babe DeMay.

A pair of Bonneville Peformance Triumph/Wiseco/Safety Kleen/Eddie Atkins-sponsored Triumphs sit at the ready for 2011 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Champion Mikey Martin #91 at round 4 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track season on May 27. 

Martin and the team, in their first year together, finished in the 20th-place spot in the overall standings of the 2012 season, and showed some real promise throughout the second-half of the year after making their first National main event together at the Sacramento Mile in late July, and making four more mains (Indy, Knoxville, Santa Rosa, Tucson) to round out the year.

The California Kid with the big afro haircut and the Bonneville Performance Triumph team announced the other day that they would be pairing-up with the just-announced team of Latus Motors Triumph (with rider Johnny Lewis and former Grand National Champion Joe Kopp heading up the team) for the upcoming Twins Series events for the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track J&P Cycles Grand National Championship season.  And they will be bringing new sponsorship on-board in the form of the U.S. Marines.

You can read more about this great news for the Bonneville Performance team and rider Mikey Martin here, again thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track.

After riding for the the Werner-Springsteen Racing/Monster Energy/Cometic/Barnett-sponsored Kawasaki team in the 2012 season, Brandon Robinson #44 has hooked up with the T.J. Burnett Farms/USC Racing/James Hart Racing/Arai-sponsored Kawasaki team for the upcoming season, as was announced in November.

The team got off to a fantastic start to the season yesterday at round 1 of the 2013 Steve Nace Racing AMA All-Star event at Oglethorpe Speedway outside Savannah, GA. with BRob44 taking home the wins in both the Expert Singles and Expert Twins events over other AMA Pro Flat Track headliners Jake Johnson, Rob Pearson, JD Beach, Henry Wiles, Kenny Coolbeth and a big handful of others.

The former Expert Twins Champion tears it up in the shot above aboard the #44 Werner-Springsteen Kawasaki at round 5 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track season at the Allen County Fairgrounds-hosted Lima Half-Mile on June 30, during one of the final practice and qualifying sessions of the day.

Great job guys, what a way to start the first big race of the season, congrats!

You can see the full event results here thanks to Chew & Mia, The Fans in the Stands from FlatTrack.com.


The Steve Nace Racing 2013 AMA All Star National Flat Track Series by Golden Tyre heads to Volusia Speedway Park tomorrow in Barberville, FL. before rounds 1-2 of the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track J&P Cycles Grand National Championship season kick-off on Thursday, March 14-15 at the Daytona International Speedway-hosted short track.

AMA Flat Track: Mikey Martin #91 Bonneville Performance Triumph Knoxville Half-Mile Report

Round 10 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season saw '11 AMA Pro Singles Champion Mikey Martin representing the #91 Bonneville Performance Triumph/Wiseco/Safety Kleen/Spectro Oils-sponsored team in a grand way in just his first season as a rookie Expert and with his new team.

After initially making his first AMA Grand National event at the Sacramento Mile in a Twins Series event, Martin and team have been coming together and proving what a great combination they are on The Rolling Thunder Show circuit.  At the Lucas Oil Indy Mile (pictured above on August 18 rolling out for final qualifying with the help of AMA Pro Flat Track's Kevin Snyder), Martin pulled-off a great win in his semi to make the 18-rider main in front of a packed house with some European fans courtesy of the 5th Annual Red Bull Indy MotoGP going on down the road a few miles at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

At Knoxville last weekend, Martin set an impressive 7th-fastest time in qualifying out of the 40 riders on-hand that took a time in the combined sessions at the Sprint Car Capital of the World.  He then backed that super effort up with a great 3rd-place finish in his heat behind 2-Time and defending AMA Grand National Champion Jake Johnson on the #1 Zanotti Racing XR750, and Brandon Robinson on the #44 Werner-Springsteen Kawasaki, and in the process getting his direct ticket to the National main.

The Californian then proceeded to fight the good fight, getting a great start in the 25-lap red flag-delayed event, only to struggle with his restart, but still held on tough for an eventual 11th-place finish and his third straight Twins Series main event finish. 

Bravo to Mikey and the hard-working crew of the Bill Gately-helmed Bonneville Performance Triumph team for turning the corner this year and making what is obviously steady progress on their efforts with the factory-backed British parallel twin mounts.  These guys have been really getting closer all season and to see them get some steady results in terms of making mains on a regular basis and winning their first qualifying race together (and first for the team since former rider Shawn Baer #32 won his semi to make the 2010 Lucas Oil Indy Mile) at Indy in August shows that the progress is happening and they are gelling as a team is great to see for these guys. 

Congrats to Mikey Martin and the Bonneville Performance Triumph team for another solid effort last weekend and we'll be looking for some more solid results as they swing into the Springfield Mile II rescheduled event set for this Sunday, September 16.

And you can check out Mikey and the team's press release below to help get you ready for the fast and furious action that will be hitting the Illinois State Fairgrounds mile oval in just over 36 hours.



Press release courtesy of the Bonneville Performance Triumph AMA Pro Flat Track team and Mikey Martin #91, the 2011 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Champion

Hi Everyone,

 

This race report is from the Knoxville Half-Mile in Knoxville, Iowa at the famous Knoxville Raceway.  It was originally scheduled as round 13 but due to the double-header at Springfield getting rained out it became round 11. 

 

The rescheduled date for Springfield will be September 15^thfor the Short Track and the 16^th for the Mile. That is where I will be heading this weekend.

I did well here last year in the Pro Singles and had some confidence going in.   I started the day out good in the practice session by qualifying fifth.  We made a few changes on the bike but not much.  I felt like I did some fast laps in qualifying and ended up seventh overall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mikey Martin on the #91 Bonneville Performance Triumph is shown in action at the Knoxville Half-Mile on September 8.  Photo by Dave Hoenig/Flat Trak Fotos.com courtesy of Mikey Martin and the Bonneville Performance Triumph team.

 

In my heat race I got a great start, I nailed my first hole-shot, I lead the first lap then I got passed by number 1 Jake Johnson.  I hung with him for the majority of the race til I spun just a little coming out of turn two and let a rider get by me.  Had I held the second place, that would have been my first Dash-For-Cash.  I ended up third and that is a direct transfer to the main, it was my best heat race finish this year and my first Half-Mile main event on the Triumph.

In the main event I was on the second row in the third position, I got another great start and I was running sixth for about three or four laps when there was a red flag thrown for a rider that fell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jake Johnson #1 took the early lead in the 25-lap National main at Knoxville, initially leading Jared Mees #9, eventual event-winner Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. #2 and Mikey Martin #91 on the Bonneville Performance Triumph.  Photo by Dave Hoenig/Flat Trak Fotos.com and courtesy of Mikey Martin and the Bonneville Performance Triumph team.

They lined us back up in the staggered restart. I was lined up where no one has rode or started all night so it was slick. I got a horrible start, I was in fourteenth for half the race, a few riders broke and I made a few passes and ended up eleventh. I was very happy about my performance, I was just upset about the restart.

Mikey Martin 91 / Bonneville Performance – Factory Triumph Racing

Thanks to our great sponsors:

AC Racing, Acerbis, All Balls, Alpinestars, Andrews Brothers Racing, Arlen Ness, Applied Coatings, Arai Helmets, Barnett, Crank Works Inc., Bonneville Performance, CV4, D&D Exhaust, Eddie Adkins, EBC Brakes, Full Spectrum Power, K&N Filters, Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Lightshoe, Mayberry Construction, Millennium Technologies, Mike Cougle, Motion Pro, MTFX Graphics, Paint by Smokey, PMP Sprockets, Pro Plates, R-3 Powersports, RK Chain, R&S Erection, Saddlemen, Safety Kleen, San Joaquin Chrome, San Joaquin Steel, Spectro Oils, Spider Grips, SPY Optics, SHY, Triumph Motorcycles, Vortex, VC Graphix, Web Cams, Wiseco Pistons, Woody Kyle Racing, Works Connection

AMA Flat Track: Mikey Martin #91 Round 10 Lucas Oil Indy Mile Report

Round 10 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season saw the series hit the infamous Lucas Oil Indy Mile and along the way a fresh, new face made it onto the podium after winning semi race #2 on the evening.

2011 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Champion Mikey Martin was rewarded for his winning efforts in the Pro Singles Series after the end of the '11 season with an offer to ride the work-in-progress Triumph 955-based mount for the Bonneville Performance Triumph AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Twins Series team.  After parting ways with second-year rider Shawn Baer, Martin was enlisted to help the team get to the next step in the ultra-competitive Rolling Thunder Show.

With a rough start to the first three events of the 2012 Twins Series Championship at the Springfield Mile I, Lima Half-Mile and Hagerstown Half-Mile, the team headed to round 7 of the season at the Sacramento Mile where Martin and team celebrated a solid and hard-earned 9th-place finish in the National main, Martin's first top-10 as an Expert-ranked rider for the '12 season.

When the Twins Series reconvened at round 10 of the season at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on August 18, Martin and the team had made some major strides when the day was over.  Winning semi #2 at Indy made for Martin's first podium appearance as and Expert rider and showed the packed house on-hand that he and the Triumph factory-backed team were indeed making steps to move forward and upward in the run at the front in the greatest racing series on wheels in the world.

Being interviewed above by AMA Pro Flat Track announcer Barry Boone, the California-based rider beams after leading defending Springfield Mile I winner Willie McCoy home with fellow rookie Mikey Avila also filling out the field for the National main with a solid 3rd-place result.

Although their night ended early with a broken chain and a resulting 17th-place finish at Indy, Martin and the team have a lot to look forward to with the remaining five events on the schedule for the Twins Series this season and look to be in the mix as the series winds down over the course of the next two months.

Next up is the Springfield Short Track round 11 at the Multipurpose Arena on the Illinois State Fairgrounds next Saturday, September 1 and then it's on to the Springfield Mile II on Sunday, September 2 for the next Twins Series event of the season.

You can read Mikey's full report below and a big congrats to him and the team for making the next big leap in the Rolling Thunder Show.  Great job!


Press release courtesy of 2011 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstores.com Pro Singles Champion Mikey Martin #91 & the Bonneville Performance Triumph AMA Pro Flat Track team.

The race weekend started out at the D&D Performance Enterprises' sponsored Night Before the Indy Mile Race Party at Southside Harley-Davidson on Friday August 17, 2012. Fans were able to meet AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Flat Track racers Kenny Coolbeth, Dan Ingram, Nicole Cheza, Willy McCoy, and AMA Factory Triumph-Bonneville Performances' Mikey Martin.

 

http://www.danddexhaust.com/news/2012/08/great_times_dd.htm

 

A big thanks to SouthSide H-D and D&D for the invite. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey everyone,

Here is my race report from last weekend at the world famous Indy Mile, in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Since it was during the Indiana State Fair there were a lot of people and the stands were packed full.   I was very excited coming into this race because I felt good physically and mentally and had a lot of confidence from the previous race at the Sacramento Mile where I got a ninth place finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After winning semi #2 at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on August 18, Mikey Martin #91 celebrates on the podium alongside his Bonneville Performance Triumph while AMA Pro Flat Track announcer Barry Boone talks to the crowd about Martin's great win in front of the packed house at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.  Photo by Dave Hoenig/Flat Trak Fotos.com courtesy of Mikey Martin & the Bonneville Performance Triumph team.

 

 

The Triumph worked great in practice and the first qualifying session went great too, I qualified fifth.  Before the second qualifying session we made some adjustments to my bike to see if we could get the setup even better, but the track started getting dried off and slippery, and I ended up qualifying tenth overall.

In the heat race I qualified on the front row, I got a great start.  I was in third for a lap then I slipped off the groove and fell back to eleventh place, I made a pass every lap and ended up fifth, one spot out of a direct transfer to the main, which meant I had to go to a semi. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jake Johnson leads the National main on his #1 Zanotti Racing XR750 with Mikey Martin #91 on the Bonneville Performance Triumph slotting in behind early in the 25-lap race at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile on August 18.  Photo by Michael Boston courtesy of Mikey Martin & the Bonneville Performance Triumph team.

 

 

In my semi I got the hole-shot and led every lap.  I was battling with Willy McCoy the whole race and drafted him for the semi win.  This was my first time on the podium with the Triumph.

In the main I got a great start from the back row, I was in second for a few laps behind Jake Johnson, when I got bumped off the groove and fell back to eighth.   I was passing a few riders down the back straight away on lap four and then my chain broke exiting turn four.  I knew where everyone was at, so I was able to go high and allow everyone to pass before I crossed back down to the inside of the track and into the pits without causing a red flag restart.

Obviously I was saddened because I felt that I was going to better my previous ninth place.

Come by the pits and say hi.

 

The next race is the Springfield Short Track September 1^st and the Mile on the 2^nd, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois.

Mikey Martin 91 / Bonneville Performance – Factory Triumph Racing

Thanks to our great sponsors:

AC Racing, Acerbis, All Balls, Alpinestars, Andrews Brothers Racing, Arlen Ness, Applied Coatings, Arai Helmets, Barnett, Crank Works Inc., Bonneville Performance, CV4, D&D Exhaust, Eddie Adkins, EBC Brakes, Full Spectrum Power, K&N Filters, Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Lightshoe, Mayberry Construction, Millennium Technologies, Mike Cougle, Motion Pro, MTFX Graphics, Paint by Smokey, PMP Sprockets, Pro Plates, R-3 Powersports, RK Chain, R&S Erection, Saddlemen, Safety Kleen, San Joaquin Chrome, San Joaquin Steel, Spectro Oils, Spider Grips, SPY Optics, SHY, Triumph Motorcycles, Vortex, VC Graphix, Web Cams, Wiseco Pistons, Woody Kyle Racing, Works Connection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AMA Flat Track: Mikey Martin National #91 Bonneville Performance Triumph Grabs 9th-place Spot at the Sacramento Mile

One of the team members works on getting the pit area readied in the Bonneville Performance Triumph pits during round 4 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Springfield Mile I on May 27.  Team patriarch and head-man-in-charge Bill Gately can be seen in the left side of the shot hawking the team's street tracker-versions of the parallel twin machines.

Mikey Martin, the team's new rider and 2011 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Champion, pulled out a great 9th-place finish at round 7 of the season at the Sacramento Mile on July 28.  Having struggled throughout the earlier rounds in the Twins Series events, Double M put the big twin into the National main event for his first time ever in his rookie year as an Expert-ranked rider, after coming home in the 4th-place spot in his heat race at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in California.

Martin was in a deeply-stacked heat that saw eventual event-winner Bryan Smith, former rookie of the year Stevie Bonsey and 2-Time Singles Champion Henry Wiles finish ahead of him to secure their spots in the National main.  Mikey finished just .886 seconds behind heat winner Smith to secure his spot in the 25-lap main event.

Mikey ended the evening on the left coast after finishing in the 9th-place spot, 9.164 seconds behind Bryan Smith, and scored his first points of the season in the Expert class in his first National main event of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season.  He rode the #91 Bonneville Performance Triumph/Wiseco/Safety Kleen/Eddie Atkins-sponsored parallel twin to a great run that will surely see him and the team moving forward as the season continues.

Congrats to Mikey for his great run, we knew you guys would get that big twin headed in the right direction!

You can read the full press release below from Mikey and the Bonneville Performance Triumph team.

Press release courtesy of Mikey Martin National #91, 2011 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Champion & Bonneville Performance Triumph AMA Pro Flat Track team.


Mikey Martin Puts Bonneville Performance Triumph in the National Main at the Sacramento Mile and Brings Home Solid 9th-place finish.


Hey everyone,

Here is my race report from Cal Expo in Sacramento, CA.

I was going into this race feeling confident in front of my hometown crowd as I only live 35 miles away.  Last year as a Pro I did a "clean sweep" meaning, I set the fastest qualifying time, won the fastest heat, and won the main event.  I wanted this to be the day that I make my first main event on the Triumph.

The temperature was up to 98 degrees on Saturday and the grandstands were packed full of spectators.  I had friends, family and neighbors there rooting me on.

In the first qualifying session I qualified fourth and in the second qualifying session I qualified fourth which meant I qualified fourth overall and earned a front row start for the heat race.

Mikey Martin #91 shows his form on the Bonneville Performance Triumph during round 7 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds hosted Sacramento Mile on July 28.  Photo courtesy of Mikey Martin/Bonneville Performance by Dave Hoenig/Flat Trak Fotos.com.


There was a long intermission so we set up an autograph signing.  I was a little shocked when Frank Gillespie (former National #76 in the early-mid '70s), a former Triumph icon came over and asked for my autograph.  He mentioned to me that I was his new hero and traded a picture of him for my autograph.

Near the end of the opening ceremony two Marine Helicopters did a "fly by" over the track, I was thrilled when the pilots showed up to meet and take pictures with the Bonneville Performance Team.

In the heat race I was on the front row in a really stacked heat . I got a good start, was in second about half the race.  I was battling with Steve Bonsey and Bryan Smith.  I lost third position when Henry Wiles passed me on the last lap.  I ended up in the fourth position this meant a direct transfer to the main event.

Mikey Martin on the #91 Bonneville Performance Triumph took home a hard-earned 9th-place finish at the Sacramento Mile on July 28.  Photo courtesy of Mikey Martin/Bonneville Performance by Amanda Jones/Revved Up Photography.


My bike was working well.  We made some changes to the suspension setup for the main and put on a new tire.

In the main event I started on the second row.  I got a good start and was in seventh until the halfway point.  I kept spinning up coming out of turn 2 and Jeffery Carver got past me coming out.  The white flag came out and I was in eighth up until this point when I slipped off the grove in turn 3 and let another rider get by me.  I finished the race in the 9th-place position, which was my first top-10 finish this year.  I was extremely happy for our team.

<sup>Mikey Martin 91 / Bonneville Performance – Factory Triumph Racing

I would like to give a special thanks to everyone at Triumph Motorcycles and Bonneville Performance.

Thanks to our great sponsors:

AC Racing, Acerbis, All Balls, Alpinestars, Andrews Brothers Racing, Applied Coatings, Arai Helmets, Barnett, Crank Works Inc., CV4, Durelle Racing Suspension, D&D Exhaust, Eddie Adkins, EBC Brakes, K&N Filters, Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Lightshoe, Mayberry Construction, Millennium Technologies, Mike Cougle, Motion Pro, MTFX Graphics, PMP Sprockets, Pro Plates, R-3 Powersports, RK Chain, R&S Erection, Saddlemen, Safety Kleen, San Joaquin Chrome, San Joaquin Steel, Spectro Oils, Spider Grips, SPY Optics, SHY, Triumph Motorcycles, Vortex, VC Graphix, Web Cams, Wiseco Pistons, Woody Kyle Racing, Works Connection</sup>